


Peaches and Cream

by Kindassunshine



Category: Naruto
Genre: Brothers, Canon-Typical Violence, Discrimination, Drinking, Hand Jobs, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-30 17:25:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3945358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kindassunshine/pseuds/Kindassunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Itachi stood mutely. Was Shisui really going to act like there wasn’t a strange half-naked man in his kitchen? </p><p>A few scenes from Itachi's life in the months leading up to the Uchiha Massacre... he can't understand what Shisui sees in Kakashi at first but as the months go on he thinks he's beginning to see it after all.</p><p>On-going at the moment! Few more tags to add but otherwise its there...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sixteen Months to The Massacre

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, don't read too much into the title... I keep hearing this song on the radio and it makes me laugh ;)
> 
> So this is the first fic I've written that is longer than one chapter! (what can I say... espresso-ferret attention span).
> 
> Three chapters go! Enjoy!

‘Itachi! Over here – oh, oops,’ Shisui laughed, having knocked into the table scattering beer bottles in his enthusiasm to greet him. Itachi felt a small smile tug at his mouth.  
Mutters followed as he weaved between tables towards Shisui and, as he passed, one table began to clap and then the rest of the bar broke into sudden applause. Itachi kept his head down, feeling his face flush. He wished they would stop – even if it had meant the mission had been a success, his ability to kill a dozen men with a single jutsu was not something worthy of celebration in his opinion. The ovation had petered out by the time he reached where Shisui was sat.  
Although inside the bar was crowded, their table was being given a wide berth. Itachi wasn’t surprised though it depressed him a little – there were a lot of civilians out tonight and there’d been couple of incidents involving young Uchiha recently. Predominately fights started by Setsuna’s idiotic friends, two of which Itachi recognised at the table.  
Shisui beamed as he approached while the rest, mostly Uchiha, determinedly avoided his eye. Itachi ignored them; knowing his friend was the only person likely to be pleased the weird little genius had turned up.  
‘Sensei, can I have an autograph?’ Shisui gasped, cackling at Itachi’s glare then shaking his head rolling black eyes, ‘my god, you’re embarrassing.’  
‘If you hadn’t shouted–’ Itachi started indignantly but then saw Shisui’s amused smirk and stopped, realising the other was teasing him. Shisui winked at him, indicating the man beside him; ‘you know Kakashi, yeah?’ Itachi looked at him. Kakashi glanced back briefly, indifferent, pulling Shisui to sit. Kakashi of the Sharingan, infamous Copy Ninja of the Leaf Village, son of the legendary White Fang and prodigy of Konoha’s Yellow Flash, the tragically short-lived Hokage. Did he know Kakashi? Itachi raised a single eyebrow at Shisui who laughed.  
‘Clan meeting,’ Itachi told him abruptly, noting Kakashi’s scowl with silent satisfaction, ‘I said I’d get you.’ Shisui groaned, as the other Uchiha stirred, then scrubbed his hands through his hair standing too.  
‘No offense Itachi, but sometimes Fugaku sucks,’ he grumbled eyes on Kakashi, who sat innocently sipping his drink. Itachi glared at his profile.  
‘I’ll see you around, I guess,’ Kakashi murmured, nonchalant. Itachi studied his face, visible for once, and thought his chin looked weak. Shisui snorted amused.  
‘No you won’t,’ Shisui sighed in mock despair as he turned to leave. Before he could take step Kakashi was ahead of him. Shisui laughed again, shoving him in the chest but allowing him to drop his arm around him as they walked out. Itachi followed on their heels mutely furious – Kakashi was fast, without the sharingan he hadn’t been able to see the body flicker at all. He emerged in time to see Kakashi peck Shisui on the mouth and stroll off in the direction of the Hokage’s tower. Itachi watched him go. 

‘Are you going out with him?’ Itachi asked, forcing neutrality into his voice, the moment they stepped over the border into the Uchiha compound. One of the ANBU ahead of them glanced back with a grin but looked forward quickly when he spotted Itachi’s glare.  
‘Not really,’ Shisui smiled then, when Itachi looked suspicious, added ‘he doesn’t… do relationships.’ Ahead a few muted chuckles and Shisui grinned wider. Itachi felt his jaw set – Shisui had never teased him for not knowing something before: ‘what does that mean?’  
‘Oh who knows, Itachi?’ he sighed, expression a little sore. Itachi considered this response at they trotted towards the Naka.  
They were not alone now, other Uchiha had emerged joining the throng and Itachi realised this must be a meeting of the entire clan. He thought of Kakashi’s slack posture, Kakashi’s sliver white hair, Kakashi’s single grey eye.  
‘They talk about him in the ANBU,’ he muttered to Shisui as they entered the shrine and followed a line of their clansmen beneath the stone.  
‘Should you be listening to gossip?’ he chuckled as they took a place towards the back. Itachi always tried to be as far from the speaker as possible; his father had a bad habit of calling on him whenever audience participation was required. He scanned the crowd carefully, spotting Sasuke’s spikey head lent against their mother’s side, both knelt looking up at his father with a kind of glazed admiration. Itachi averted his eyes.  
He and Shisui sat as the final members of the clan trickled in and Fugaku began speaking – yet another indignant diatribe on Uchiha oppression.  
‘They say he killed his team mate – that’s how he got the sharingan,’ Itachi hissed undeterred, when he was certain no one was paying attention to them. Shisui frowned at him.  
‘You think we’d let him live if that were true?’ he growled, ‘the kid was killed on the battlefield and bequeathed the eye with his dying breath.’ Here Shisui gave such a convincing death rattle that several people looked around at them. Itachi elbowed him, ducking his head. Shisui chuckled.  
‘What do you know about it anyway?’ he smirked, ‘you were still a baby when all that happened.’  
‘That doesn’t mean I don’t understand it now,’ Itachi told him grumpily.  
‘Well obviously you don’t,’ Shisui retorted, ‘I have it from a good source – he was Setsuna’s cousin, y’know, first cousin so it’s probably be true.’ Itachi rolled his eyes at this; he had more purportedly first cousins than he could count on all his fingers and toes. ‘Kakashi would have done the best he could, but the kid must have been pretty useless if even the Yellow Flash couldn’t keep him alive.’  
‘Don’t say things like that,’ Itachi scolded softly. Shisui shrugged unrepentant, leaning back on his hands.  
‘I thought Setsuna was main branch?’ Itachi muttered lowering his voice still further. Shisui gave a derisive snort. Though the divides were not as evident as in the Hyuga clan, there were those in the Uchiha who claimed direct lineage from the infamous founder Madara, and from him the Sage of the Six Paths himself. Itachi wasn’t sure he believed it and knew Shisui did not.  
‘That’s all bullshit,’ Shisui grunted, as though he’d read Itachi’s mind, ‘you’re the genius right? If anyone was Madara’s heir it would be you.’  
‘I’m not,’ Itachi choked. Shisui grinned at him amused.  
‘It wouldn’t be so bad,’ he chuckled, eyes on Fugaku, ‘he was the most powerful Uchiha ever.’  
‘He betrayed his village,’ Itachi muttered, wrapping his arms around his knees. For the first time Shisui looked directly at him. Itachi flushed, perhaps calling their ancestor a traitor was not a smart move, but Shisui didn’t say anything though he had an odd look on his face.  
A kunoichi in front of them glanced back, smiling at Shisui. She looked ahead again, smoothing glossy black hair. Shisui winked at Itachi carefully sliding forward over the mats. She flicked her hair back over her shoulder as Shisui wriggled his way between her and the girl beside her. Itachi looked away resting his chin on his knees, wondering if Shisui could go an hour without flirting with someone.  
Staring blankly at his father, he returned to the thought of Kakashi with displeasure. Of course he’d known Kakashi was an exceptional ninja but it irked him to think he was faster or more skilled than he was.  
The universal truth that there would always be someone better had never seemed to apply to Itachi. There had never been anyone who could beat him or even come close. Not in the academy, not on missions, not now in ANBU. He supposed the Fourth, when he’d been alive, would have been a challenge – but that was more of an abstract, he been a grown man and a prodigy in his own right. Kakashi was only a handful of years older than him.  
The meeting ended finally and Itachi stood quickly, hoping to escape in the crowd but there was a resonant call of ‘Itachi’ and he turned back restraining a groan.


	2. Thirteen Months to The Massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke was staring at him, Itachi smiled and shrugged, ‘we are Uchiha, all our ancestors have been ninjas, but it’s not a life I’d wish for you if you didn’t want it.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of brotherly love :) ah, not that kind... not yet any way.

Itachi slid the front door closed behind him, flopping onto the step but making no effort to remove his shoes. He sat staring into the middle distance, unable to stop replaying the spurt of arterial spray over and over and over again until he thought he would scream. There was something warm and wriggling against his back. It took him a moment to realise Sasuke was climbing on him and another to remember he was covered in blood.   
‘Ah Sasuke not now,’ he said gently prying small hands off the stained fabric of his shirt.   
‘You always say that,’ his brother grumbled pressing his face between his shoulder blades, sucking on the end of his ponytail. Itachi sighed turning to smile at him pulling his hair away. Sasuke froze eyes huge in his round white face.   
‘It’s mine,’ Itachi told him quickly.   
‘No it isn’t!’ Sasuke said shrilly.   
‘No it isn’t,’ he accepted, sighing, ‘sorry Sasuke, I don’t know why I said that.’ Sasuke regarded him mute. Itachi scuffed his heels guiltily; he should have changed at headquarters but he hadn’t quite been able to drag his feet back into town when his bed was waiting for him to fall face-first into. He’d thought it’d be okay – it was the middle of the day and the Uchiha compound was deserted. Sasuke was pouting, not crying but still pale.   
‘Shouldn’t you be at the academy?’ he asked, not looking at him, loosening the straps on his chest plate.   
‘I’m off sick,’ Itachi raised his eyebrows, ‘I had a headache this morning,’ Sasuke mumbled, folding his small arms defensively, ‘mum thinks it’s the sharingan but I don’t.’   
‘I used to get headaches,’ Itachi nodded, touching the centre of his forehead where the pain focused. He still got headaches, some that would last for days, but Shisui said that’s what you got for over using the sharingan. Sasuke still looked worried. ‘Does your head hurt now?’ he asked. Sasuke shook his head. ‘You don’t think it’s the sharingan?’ Sasuke shook his head again. ‘You are a bit young really,’ Itachi told him gently.  
‘You were my age,’ Sasuke muttered, still examining his toes.   
‘I wasn’t,’ Itachi corrected, pulling off his sandals and beginning to unwind muddy bandages from his legs, ‘I was almost two years older,’ Sasuke pouted unimpressed, ‘and you know Shisui didn’t get the sharingan until he was nearly fifteen.’   
‘Fifteen?’ Sasuke repeated in horror coming to sit on the step next to him. Itachi smiled: ‘no one remembers that now he’s so strong but it’s true.’ Sasuke didn’t answer; he was looking at the thick splash of blood on Itachi’s chest plate which he knew continued up his face and down one of his trouser legs.   
‘Mum didn’t say you were on a mission,’ he mumbled into his chest.   
‘She probably didn’t want to upset you,’ Itachi sighed, removing his belt but not opening his tool pouch – he’d cleaned his weapons already.   
‘I wouldn’t be upset!’ Sasuke complained not looking at him. Itachi kissed the side of his head.  
‘It’s okay to get upset, Sasuke,’ he said quietly and seriously, ‘even I get upset sometimes.’   
‘No you don’t,’ Sasuke told his knees hugging them, ‘I won’t get upset when I’m a jonin like you.’ Itachi looked down at the fine scars on his hands, feeling something painful and close to the surface.  
‘You don’t even have to be a ninja, you know Sasuke. You’re smart you could do anything.’ Sasuke bristled: ‘if idiots like that Naruto can become ninja, then I definitely can.’  
‘That’s not what I’m saying,’ Itachi tried to explain as his younger brother glared at him; ‘you think I do this job because I like it?’ Sasuke frowned looking confused, Itachi frowned too trying to pull his thoughts together, ‘sometimes… sometimes to stay safe, to keep everyone safe, you have to do things that are difficult and… that you don’t want to do. You have to do them, not that you want to. I don’t take missions and kill people because I want to or because I like killing, Sasuke. So it’s hard to bear and that’s as it should be.’ Sasuke was staring at him, Itachi smiled and shrugged, ‘we are Uchiha, all our ancestors have been ninjas, but it’s not a life I’d wish for you if you didn’t want it.’ Before Sasuke could reply a call came from further inside the house.  
‘Itachi here!’ It was his father’s voice. 

Itachi spotted his father, head poked through the door that led to the formal sitting room.   
‘I need to wash my face,’ he said quietly, passing him and making to go up the hall.   
‘No, that can wait,’ he father grunted withdrawing into the room, ‘I’m sure the Hokage’s seen a little blood before.’ Itachi followed him curiously. He pulled up short when he saw that indeed the Hokage was sat at the table smiling up at him and sipping tea. He knelt quickly, flushing in embarrassment at appearing sweaty and bloody before the leader of the village.   
‘Please, Itachi, this is your house,’ the Hokage said lightly gesturing for him to sit up. His father was giving him a hard look. Itachi ignored him; Fugaku might feel it beneath the Uchihas’ dignity to show respect but he did not.   
‘Your mission was successful?’ his father asked, sitting cross-legged at his side.  
‘Yes father,’ Itachi answered politely. The door to the garden was open, showing a fat slice of the sunny deck and long grasses beyond. Sprawled out, basking like a cat in the sunlight, with his nose buried in a book was Kakashi. Itachi glared.   
It seemed these days Kakashi was everywhere he looked. One day Itachi would see him chatting with Iruka outside the academy when he dropped Sasuke off. The next Kakashi would be strolling down the corridors of ANBU headquarters. A few days later he’d be having tea with some glamorous kunoichi or playing cards with the boisterous Sanin. He’d see him in supermarket or at the bookshop or leaving the training ground. Now he was here, in Itachi’s house, flopped comfortably as though unaware a full inch of his smooth stomach visible for the entire world to see. Itachi felt his face redden a little. Fugaku was looking at Kakashi too.  
‘Surely you don’t need a guard here?’ he chuckled but his eyes were hard. The Hokage laughed too.  
‘Oh he’s not on duty – I just like to have him with me,’ he confessed, ‘keeps him out of trouble.’ The men laughed. Itachi resisted the urge to roll his eyes.   
‘Must be a comfort to you,’ Fugaku observed absentmindedly, ‘with the Fourth dead and Jiraiya wondering where the wind takes him.’ Itachi felt twinge of embarrassment at the sharpness of the words. Outside he saw the briefest frown mar Kakashi’s face as a cloud passed over the sun.   
‘We can’t keep them with us,’ the Hokage sighed, ‘even if they share our blood they make their own way in the end.’ He smiled at Itachi. Fugaku did not smile.   
‘The Hokage has come to speak to you, Itachi; about your position in the ANBU,’ he murmured, apparently deciding they had exhausted all avenues of small talk. Itachi looked at him alertly. 

It was later in the evening, the sun had not gone down yet but it was already cool by the banks of Naka. He held Sasuke by one wrist and Kakashi walked alongside them hands in pockets. They’d been sent out of the house while his father and the Hokage discussed private matters. Itachi was still silently smarting from the indignity of this – if the Hokage rated him so highly why couldn’t his father? To sooth his pride the Hokage had sent Kakashi with him. The difference being that no doubt the Hokage would discuss the meeting with him later, whereas he knew his father would not.   
‘Can I practice katon?’ Sasuke wheedled swinging from his hand, ‘please! I won’t get burnt, honestly.’ Itachi opened his mouth to tell him no.  
‘You can do katon?’ Kakashi asked interestedly. Sasuke hid behind his brother, peaking at Kakashi shyly. Itachi glanced at the other and thought maybe he was smiling under the mask.   
‘Answer then, Sasuke,’ Itachi teased, ‘it’s rude to ignore people.’ Sasuke didn’t speak looking beseechingly up at his brother. ‘Come on, you talk to Iruka don’t you? He’s a grown up, he and Kakashi are about the same age.’  
‘No they are not!’ Sasuke said indignantly, ‘Sensei’s not that old,’ he added glancing at Kakashi who really did laugh this time.   
‘How old do think I am?’ Kakashi asked watching his feet as he walked. Sasuke screwed up his face considering.   
‘Forty,’ he said at last. Itachi and Kakashi laughed. ‘Your hair’s white like a granddad!’ Sasuke muttered crossly as though this settled matters.   
‘I dye it, makes me look scarier,’ Kakashi told him seriously making Itachi choke with laughter. Sasuke scowled.   
‘Don’t make that face, Sasuke, the wind will change and you’ll be stuck like that,’ Itachi warned making his baby brother scowl at him more fiercely.   
They continued walking, the Naka gushing cheerfully to their left. Itachi could still feel the warm afterglow of amusement and was unnerved to discover he couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed. Sasuke swung his hand absently, apparently having grown bored of scowling.   
‘Kakashi?’  
‘Sasuke.’  
‘Are your mum and dad ninjas?’ Sasuke asked him and Itachi glanced at his brother surprised. Sasuke’s interest in other people generally extended only far enough to ascertain whether or not they could do fire style. He also felt a prickle of foreboding; even in the ANBU people still spoke about the White Fang in whispers. However, Kakashi answered with a shrug: ‘my dad was but my mum was a civilian.’ Though the answer was bland Itachi thought he could see Kakashi’s posture tense just slightly.   
‘That’s like us!’ Sasuke continued cheerfully, ‘I think mum would be a good kunoichi though.’   
‘She went to the academy,’ Itachi said half to his brother and half to Kakashi, ‘that’s where she met dad, remember?’   
‘She was in the same class as the Fourth, wasn’t she?’   
‘Was she?’ Itachi asked interested. He knew his parents were about the same age as the Fourth Hokage had been and their mother had known his wife. He had vague memories of her, drinking tea with his mother, red and vivid with a bright laugh and chakra that made his tongue tingle.   
‘Ah I think so,’ Kakashi said, ‘she must have been good; Sensei used to say he wasn’t surprised her son was a genius.’ Itachi flushed. He looked at Kakashi curiously but the other was still looking at the ground ahead of him.   
‘Does your dad still go on missions?’ Sasuke enquired; taking charge of the conversation now they were silent. Itachi squeezed his hand warningly but Sasuke just frowned at him.   
‘He’s dead,’ Kakashi answered, something in his voice sounded flat.   
‘Who killed him?’ Sasuke asked enthusiastically. Before Itachi could tell Sasuke to shut it Kakashi spoke.  
‘He killed himself.’  
‘Why?’ Sasuke frowned uncomprehending. Kakashi didn’t flinch, too well trained, but his expression did seem to solidify behind his mask.   
‘Sasuke,’ Itachi hissed, glancing nervously at Kakashi, ‘you shouldn’t ask questions like that.’   
‘Why not?’ Sasuke grumbled, peaking at him too.   
‘It’s unkind,’ Itachi told him firmly, ‘please apologise.’  
‘It’s fine, it’s not his fault,’ Kakashi muttered. Then all three flinched, looking around for the source of a wailed ‘Itachi!’  
Itachi was the first to spot Shisui elbows lent on a floating platform legs kicking in the clear water behind him. In the water a few other young Uchiha swam laughing and splashing in the rapidly cooling afternoon. Sasuke whooped running down to the platform pulling his shirt off as he ran. He leapt into Shisui’s arms ducking them both under. Shisui resurfaced spluttering as Kakashi and Itachi made a more sedate approach.  
‘Care to join me?’ he chuckled, swimming back to the gently swaying platform. Kakashi snorted folding his arms. ‘Oh c’mon, Kakashi, I thought you didn’t mind getting a little wet.’ Itachi felt his cheeks burning as Shisui snickered.   
‘Wet I don’t mind,’ Kakashi smirked, ‘but cold? Not this side of paradise.’   
‘Hmm sure I can’t persuade you?’ Shisui had a wicked look in his black eyes. Kakashi shook his head. There was the briefest flicker of a sopping wet and very naked Shisui before both he and Kakashi were back in the water. There was a gargled yell and Shisui’s wild laugh. Then Kakashi was back on the surface splashing and swearing; scrambling up onto the platform looking like he’d been recently drowned. Itachi laughed so hard his sides hurt, offering him a hand only when he was sure he wouldn’t get pulled in as well.   
Kakashi shed his flak jacket glaring at Shisui, who chuckled doing a lazy backstroke out of his reach. He pulled his mask, shirt and net vest off over his head, plopping the wet fabric on the deck beside him. Sat next to him Itachi looked away quickly, a flush creeping up his neck.   
There wasn’t a gram of fat on him, besides a life time’s training had left him toned and taut as a bow string. Kakashi pulled off his sandals one at a time then unrolled the wrapping around his legs. Shisui was back, elbows on the platform, winking at Itachi as water gleamed on his shoulders. Suddenly Kakashi stood, eyes on Shisui, and pushed his trousers down to his ankles. Shisui’s eyes went large and dark. Itachi became very interested in the play of light on the water.   
Kakashi carefully freed his feet, crouching. He pushed up his Konoha forehead protector revealing a single gleaming sharingan then showed Shisui his open palm. Shisui smirked pressing his mouth to it. Kakashi shook his head folding his thumb into the centre of his palm. Four. Itachi chuckled realising it was a countdown. Kakashi bent his index finger. Three. Shisui smirked. Two. Kakashi rocked onto the balls on his feet. One. There was a blurred movement and a splash. Itachi couldn’t be sure exactly what happened next but it was several days before Shisui was walking without wincing.


	3. Eleven Months to The Massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Why don’t you get back in bed?’ Shisui murmured, kissing Kakashi’s shoulder dark eyes looking up into his. Itachi felt a weird flip in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm... I couldn't decide how old I wanted Shisui to be, maybe about five or six years older than Itachi but watching the anime again I'm actually thinking he's younger than I was imagining... so please forgive a little aging up :)

Itachi alighted silently on the roof of Shisui’s building. It was an hour past dawn and he was due before the Hokage is exactly forty-seven minutes. Though he’d received his orders yesterday afternoon, he hadn’t see Shisui yet. It felt ill-omened to leave without seeing him, and beside he wanted to borrow his new katana. He swung onto the balcony and deactivated the seal on the glass door with a smear of blood. It was quiet in the apartment, the bedroom door still closed. Itachi toed his shoes off going to the hall cupboard where Shisui stored his weapons. He heard a footstep behind him.   
‘I’ve got a mission,’ he told Shisui, running his thumb over the grip of the short sword – it would take some wearing in. ‘There been an unconfirmed sighting of Sasori of the Red Sand,’ he explained mouth twitching. There were periodic sightings of every famous ninja that had ever lived, even those who’d suffered particularly public and gory deaths. A snort from behind him and he smiled.   
‘The Hokage must be taking it seriously if they’re sending you,’ Shisui chuckled. Itachi could hear water beginning to boil.   
‘He thinks Suna will send a team,’ Itachi shrugged, closing the cupboard door with his foot. He froze. Shisui was yawning lent against the counter, wearing nothing but his underwear with his hair falling in curly spikes. Sat at the table blinking blearily was Kakashi. Itachi straightened his spine, eyes burning into a now grinning Shisui. They had clearly just woken up.   
‘I hear Suna are letting the jinchuriki go on missions now,’ Shisui said lightly, turning to the tea, ‘you might get lucky, Itachi, and meet the One-tail.’ Itachi stood mutely. Was Shisui really going to act like there wasn’t a strange half-naked man in his kitchen?   
‘Tea?’ Shisui asked cheerfully, ‘sit down, you make the place look untidy.’ Itachi sat. Kakashi scratched the back of his neck, yawning into his palm. He wore a frayed robe, the Uchiha crest sewn between the shoulders, folded over at his wrists where it was too long and with the split revealing most of a muscular thigh beneath the table. From this angle Itachi could see he had a kiss mark on his neck, another on his shoulder and another just above his knee.   
‘I don’t think I’d call meeting the One-tail lucky,’ Kakashi yawned again. Shisui came to the table setting a tea cup before him.   
‘Ah, maybe not,’ Shisui smiled sitting down beside him across from Itachi. ‘Anyway it can’t be true Suna are letting it loose yet,’ he frowned, ‘I think the jinchuriki is only about the same age as Sasuke.’  
‘Six,’ Itachi supplied, well he was six until next week anyway. Shisui nodded but Kakashi squinted at him.   
‘It’s not impossible,’ he shrugged, ‘I was a chunin by then.’ Itachi and Shisui both stared at him.   
‘No way!’ Shisui barked punching his arm.   
‘Check the records,’ Kakashi smirked, rubbing his bicep. Shisui shook his head, eyes rolling up to the ceiling.   
‘Geez, you’re worse than Itachi,’ he sighed, ‘what’s wrong with you?’ Itachi frowned at him but Shisui laughed. Kakashi laughed too, hand coming to rest lazily on the back of Shisui’s neck.   
‘You didn’t know my dad, he was crazy about training,’ he chuckled, ‘he used to-’ Kakashi stopped speaking and for a moment the silence was absolute. Shisui flicked his gaze to Itachi once, warning him to remain silent.   
‘Why don’t you get back in bed?’ he murmured, kissing Kakashi’s shoulder dark eyes looking up into his. Itachi felt a weird flip in his stomach. Kakashi looked at Shisui for a long second before he stood up, disappearing back into the bedroom. Shisui watch him go before turning to Itachi.   
‘Come on,’ he muttered in Itachi’s ear, shuffling him out onto the landing grabbing his sandals as they went. ‘Is that mine?’ he asked indignantly spotting the katana on Itachi’s back. He nodded. Shisui raised his eyebrows but Itachi looked steadily back at him. ‘Okay,’ he grumbled, ‘just don’t lose it; that’s three months wages all in your hands.’   
‘I promise,’ Itachi told him sombrely, hand on heart. Shisui laughed hugging him, nearly making them both topple backwards. A shocked gasp. A young mother hurried past them, pulling along a pair of toddlers.   
Shisui snickered, glancing down at himself: ‘better get back in before I scandalise the neighbourhood.’ Itachi snorted. ‘Talking of scandal – don’t tell anyone about me having a sleep-over with you know who, okay?’  
‘Why not?’ Itachi frowned at him. Shisui sighed looking at the ceiling; ‘ah, he’s paranoid – doesn’t want anyone knowing his sleeping with an Uchiha, I guess.’ Itachi opened his mouth shocked but Shisui waved him off ‘don’t worry about it – when you’re that hot, the politics don’t matter.’ Itachi bit his lip but agreed to stay quiet and Shisui hugged him again.   
‘Be safe,’ he said roughly into Itachi’s hair. Itachi’s fingers tightened minutely on his back before letting go. Shisui returned to his apartment with a grin and Itachi decided to leave the building in a more conventional way than he’d entered, feeling an unfamiliar weight on his chest.


	4. Eight Months to The Massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi paused, waiting until they were well out of sight before slipping between the rippling grasses; there was something he needed to check.

‘I hate parties.’   
‘Not even parties to celebrate your promotion?’   
Itachi threw him a look so venomous he was surprised Shisui didn’t drop dead on the spot.   
‘It will be fun,’ Shisui grinned. Itachi ran his thumb along the edge of his kunai – he seriously doubted that.   
‘When is it?’  
‘If I tell you it will ruin the surprise,’ Shisui assured him, dropping his wet stone and flexing his fingers, ‘beside if I tell you you’ll probably get yourself sent on some urgent mission.’ Itachi sucked the inside of his cheek, was he that transparent?   
‘I’m proud of you, y’know,’ Shisui muttered after a moment. He’d returned to his katana, having already berated Itachi for blunting it, and he spoke without looking up. ‘The Hokage must really think a lot of you. It’s not easy for an Uchiha to go up the ranks so quickly.’ Itachi didn’t say anything, though he felt like he was glowing from the inside. He knew he should feel like a fraud, he’d only taken the commission at his father’s behest, to keep an eye on the council of elders, but the ANBU suited him. Behind the mask you weren’t a dutiful son or a faithful clansman, you were a ninja and that was all that mattered. Light footsteps made them look up.   
They were in the Land of Grass participating in ‘friendly’ war games with Konoha’s neighbouring village, although they’d been in the forest for three days and had yet to see another team. Due to his recent promotion, Itachi had been put in charge of a fifteen strong team of inexperienced chunins. He was still unsure if this was a punishment or reward. Upon receiving his team list, Itachi had demanded Shisui as second and irritatingly had also been assigned Kakashi.   
‘What do you think I did to offend the Hokage?’ Kakashi asked, flopping on the bank beside Shisui and pulling off his sandals to dip his feet in the water. Shisui smirked, turning his blade into the light. He had already compared their current mission to babysitting more than once.  
‘I know,’ Shisui laughed, ‘if that short one with the snub nose asks me how to do a shadow clone one more time – I’m going to kill him.’   
‘That would be a mercy kill,’ Kakashi snorted.   
‘Mercy for his parents,’ Shisui chuckled and Itachi shifted uncomfortably, frowning down at the kunai he was sharpening, wondering how Shisui could say things so heartlessly. Kakashi was looking down into the water; ‘do you think it’s strange we haven’t seen anyone?’   
‘A little,’ Itachi conceded, glancing into the trees behind them.   
‘Oh don’t get too worked up,’ Shisui told him cheerfully, pointing to the opposite bank. Itachi and Kakashi turned in unison. ‘I think the Grass guys have been listening,’ he chuckled.   
On the opposite bank stood a dark shapeless figure, there was something a little awkward about its posture. Itachi activated his sharingan pulling himself into a crouch, as Kakashi pushed up his head band. Shisui cackled tapping out across the water, eyes gleaming red.   
‘An illusion?’ Kakashi muttered, glancing at Itachi. He felt a flutter of self-consciousness, recalling suddenly that he was the leader of this mission. The charka was strange, flickering and oscillating as though it was going in and out of focus.   
‘Must be,’ Shisui shrugged, tossing a handful of freshly sharpen kunai. They watched as the knives passed harmlessly through the figure, sticking in the river bank. It laughed. It was Shisui’s laugh, a half-tone deeper but unmistakable.   
‘Creepy,’ Shisui muttered, flicking water from his katana making towards the opposite bank, ‘hey weirdo! Why don’t you show us your face?’ Itachi followed. Closer Itachi could see the figure was not a shapeless mass but a long-haired man in a long dark cloak. Itachi palmed a kunai, feeling the slight vibration in the water as Kakashi tailed him.   
‘Where’s the caster?’ Kakashi asked, single sharingan moving through the shoulder-high grass around them. Itachi looked too, waiting for that tell-tale smear of charka. He felt relieved, though the illusion was masked, its hair was dark like most of the Grass ninja he’d seen during the operational meetings.  
As they reached the bank the figure backed into the long grass and Shisui swore body-flickering after. He emerged as moment sweating and swearing.  
‘Bastard just vanished!’ he growled. Itachi sighed, looking at the crushed grass behind him.   
‘Perhaps you’re losing your touch,’ Kakashi smirked squeezing his shoulder but Shisui shrugged him off.  
‘Didn’t see any of your infamous skills,’ Shisui snapped eyes still red and furious. Itachi bit his lip but Kakashi didn’t speak.   
‘We need a perimeter check,’ Itachi murmured before Kakashi could change his mind, ‘find out if the scouts saw anything, if we can pinpoint the enemy’s location.’ Kakashi inclined his head and Shisui twitched his irritably. ‘If you two can handle that I’ll go back to base camp and make sure we’re prepared.’ Kakashi smiled at him ruefully – cajoling the chunin into battle-readiness when they hadn’t sighted the enemy in a week was not likely to be a fun task.   
They both grunted their assent, springing in opposite directions. Itachi paused, waiting until they were well out of sight before slipping between the rippling grasses; there was something he needed to check.

Itachi stood trying to shake some feeling back into his legs. It was ten to one, their watch almost over. Outside the cave the night was still and quiet. Behind him Shisui was playing cards with one of the chunins, third of their trio.   
Kakashi had sent back two scouts, who’d informed him that they’d had a sighting of the enemy, leaving Kakashi had stayed to back-up those remaining. They would need it, Itachi had thought wryly. Behind him Shisui gave his wicked laugh and Itachi glanced back at them; he was winning then.   
Several pairs of feet thumped down near to the cave mouth and Itachi turned quickly. It was immediately obvious something was wrong. Kakashi carrying an unconscious kunoichi on his back and had the arm of another around his neck, she was limping badly. A fourth had landed to his left. He was covered in blood.   
‘Shisui, wake a medic,’ Itachi called sharply moving forward to help Kakashi drag the two women inside. Shisui met them at the entrance, eyes flickering.   
‘What happened?’ he muttered, scooping up the limping kunoichi.   
‘I’m not sure,’ Kakashi muttered, running a hand through his hair, ‘I just heard a scream but whoever it was ran off as soon as they spotted me – I thought I’d better stay with the kids.’ He gave a half-glance to Itachi, who nodded; he would have expected nothing less. Only the two women seemed to be injured, the other seemed to be in shock. While the medic began working, Itachi turned to the uninjured scout.  
‘Did you see anything?’ he asked as the chunin blinked at him. He took a breath, eyes low: ‘I only caught a glance. A man I think, he had a sword the same length as his body, but his face…’ he frowned, ‘I couldn’t really see but I think… he looked like shark.’ Kakashi straightened suddenly and pacing, rubbing a hand over his masked mouth. Itachi and Shisui looked up at him.   
‘Someone one special?’ Shisui smirked. Kakashi shook his head.  
‘We need to contact Konoha,’ he said quietly. Shisui stilled, sobering instantly. Itachi pulled out his map scanning for the nearest muster point.   
‘We’re the best part of a day away from any line of communication,’ he concluded, looking at Kakashi again, ‘who do think this guy is?’ Kakashi stopped pacing.   
‘You got a Bingo book?’ he asked and Shisui raised his eyebrows. A nearby chunin, woken by the commotion, handed over hers quickly.   
Kakashi flicked through then held it open to their witness, who glanced once then nodded with a shiver. Itachi read the entry, Shisui hanging over his shoulder.   
‘The three of us could take him out,’ Shisui murmured, ‘honestly, Itachi could do it on his own.’   
‘Not without injury,’ Kakashi muttered, looking at the two supine chunin.   
‘And?’ Shisui shrugged.  
‘We’re at a disadvantage,’ Itachi interjected, ‘he’ll know we’ve got inexperienced ninja with us. It will be difficult if we’re protecting them as well.’   
‘I thought being chunin meant you could take care of yourself,’ Shisui said smugly.   
‘There’s something else,’ Kakashi muttered, eyes moving around the cave. Everyone was now awake, listening to the conversation and peeking nervously at the injured scouts. Itachi noticed the look. Perhaps Kakashi was right, mention of an S-rank criminal at large in the surrounding forest with likely to panic their team.   
‘Shisui get everyone back in bed,’ he muttered, ‘we’ll be back in a moment.’ Shisui looked like he wanted to argue but restrained himself. Itachi knew Kakashi’s agitation had him more spooked than he was willing to admit.   
Kakashi slipped outside and he followed on silent feet. They didn’t go more than five-hundred metres, keeping the cave entrance in sight at all times.   
‘The other two scouts?’ Itachi asked. There had been five on duty. Kakashi shook his head once and Itachi felt a wrench of guilt; he should have protected them. Kakashi stopped deciding they had gone far enough.   
‘I don’t know how much you know about it,’ Kakashi started talking quick and low, ‘but last time Jiraiya was in town, he was talking about a certain organisation.’ Itachi stared at him in darkness, there been whispers but then there always were. ‘Akatsuki, it’s called, based in Ame so Jiraiya thinks and he’s usually right. No one’s sure what they’re up to yet but these guys aren’t messing around.’   
‘And our new friend is a member?’ he asked carefully, wondering if now was the time to mention the man on the riverbank and the fact that wasn’t a Hidden Grass ninja at all. He pushed away the thought – there was no connection. That man was a relic, nothing more.   
‘Yeah,’ Kakashi grunted, ‘and someone else you might have heard of – Orochimaru.’  
‘You think he’s here?’ he asked sharply, eyes on Kakashi’s face.  
‘I think it’s a real possibility,’ Kakashi told him levelly. Itachi nodded, mind spinning. Alone even an inhumanly powerful ninja could not hope to bring down the Leaf, but one with access the kind of raw power the Akatsuki had at their disposal was a different matter.   
‘We need to evacuate as quickly as possible,’ Itachi muttered, ‘and we need to get a message back to the village. If you started for the muster point now-’ Kakashi cut him off.   
‘No offence Itachi, you’re a superb ninja, but I’m not willing to leave you and Shisui out here alone.’ Itachi looked at him but Kakashi was looking into the trees to the left of them.   
‘Fine,’ Itachi murmured, making up his mind, ‘we’ll break camp tomorrow and head for the muster point in twos and threes, you, Shisui and I will split up – more likely for the message to get through that way.’ Kakashi agreed and they returned to the cave. At the entrance Itachi could see Shisui’s sharingan gleaming out of the blackness. 

They remained in the Land of Grass searching the forest for two more days after the chunin were dispatched back to Konoha. Itachi had returned to the riverbank but that man was nowhere in sight. By the morning of the third day the mutters were beginning – speculations on whether their new, and unproven, captain hadn’t gotten a little jumpy and set off a false alarm.   
But Itachi’s faith in Kakashi was rewarded later that afternoon with a sighting of Orochimaru himself; one of the jonin scouts having lost her arm for the privilege. Shisui had been with the party also, returning with a thick gash across the side of his head. It made Itachi cold to look at – he’d nearly lost an eye.   
Itachi sat back lent against the wall, in depths of a new underground hideout – it had seemed prudent to move. It wasn’t much more than a large room wood panelled, smelling of earth and unwashed bodies. Shisui was curled up beside him, head in his lap. Some of his dark curly hair had been shaved to keep the wound clean and beneath his scalp looked puckered and bruised. Shisui had clung to him while he’d had his head stitched. Itachi soothed him as best he could but he had never felt so helpless.   
Kakashi sat a little way from them deep in conversation with the Sanin, who arrived only a couple of hours late. Orochimaru having fled for the Ame boarder where Itachi had called his men back – though it was ridiculous that between one tree and the next he could kill a man or not. Itachi watched them beneath his eyelashes, smoothing Shisui’s remaining hair. Jiraiya looked unusually grave as he listened to Kakashi talk.   
As he watched Kakashi stood with a shrug and the other stood as well. Jiraiya had spoken to him earlier, while Shisui was sedated. His conversation brief and measured, unable to prevent his eyes flicking to Kakashi as though in disbelief the Hokage had allowed a barely thirteen year old Itachi to become ANBU. They embraced, the large man enveloping Kakashi’s slighter form easily. Then Jiraiya slipped out and Kakashi came to sit next to him.   
‘Is he leaving?’ Itachi asked without preamble.   
‘Yeah, tracking Orochimaru,’ Kakashi agreed settling against him, opposite to Shisui, ‘he has friends in Ame apparently,’ he shrugged, withdrawing Jiraiya’s present – hot from the presses a month before it’s official publication date – from his jacket and opening it at his marked page. He was sitting close to Itachi, thigh pressed against his and elbow against his hip. Close enough to read over Kakashi’s should if he’d wanted to. Itachi closed his eyes revelling in the grounding warmth of another body, even if that body belonged to Kakashi.  
‘How is he?’ Kakashi murmured after moment. Itachi shrugged a little, smoothing Shisui’s hair back from the livid wound; ‘he’ll live.’   
‘I’ve never seen him like that,’ Kakashi muttered, looking down at the side of Shisui’s head. Itachi shrugged. Truthfully he’d never seen Shisui so badly frightened either – trembling and gripping onto Itachi from the moment he’d staggered back into the hideout. He glanced at Kakashi, trying to read his expression beneath the mask. Perhaps he would’ve expected Shisui to turn to him in a crisis.   
‘When we were children I used to think Shisui really was my older brother,’ Itachi found himself explaining; he wasn’t sure why or if he was trying to make Kakashi feel better. ‘I just couldn’t understand… he was around all the time and he used to train with me and take care of me… so I assumed…’ Itachi smiled to himself, ‘sounds stupid now… that was before Sasuke was born.’ Kakashi was watching him, ‘being a big brother’s tough, huh?’   
‘Like an open flank,’ Itachi shook his head, looking down at Shisui’s head in his lap, realising with a jolt that was the closest he’d ever come to telling another a person he loved Sasuke. Kakashi sighed softly. Itachi eyed him, he looked about as tired as Itachi felt, for the past couple of days they’d been sleeping in three hour shifts with the rest of the jonins.   
‘I think we can lessen the watch tonight,’ Itachi decided, ‘I feel a bit easier sleeping with Jiraiya between us and Orochimaru.’ Kakashi chuckled. Shisui shifted eyes flickering open.   
‘Itachi?’ he mumbled.   
‘Ah,’ he said softly, rubbing his shoulder, ‘it’s okay, it’s not time to get up yet.’   
‘What time is it?’ he muttered, shifting onto his back hand going up to tentatively feel his head.   
‘About a quarter to eleven,’ Itachi told him, ‘don’t mess with it.’ Shisui yawned, spotting Kakashi above him.  
‘Hey,’ he smiled, Kakashi inclined his head, ‘I can’t believe they cut my hair – do I look awful?’ he added peering up at Kakashi.  
‘Yep,’ he agreed returning to his book, ‘though you look a bit better with all blood washed off.’   
‘Thanks,’ Shisui snorted, shifting to get comfortable against Itachi again.   
‘We’re heading back to Konoha tomorrow,’ Itachi said.  
‘We aren’t even following the slippery bastard?’ Shisui asked indignant.  
‘I can’t take a team into Ame without causing some international incident,’ Itachi explained tiredly, ‘Jiraiya’s tracking him – there’s nothing else we can do.’ Shisui gave an unimpressed huff, folding his arms around himself, rolling over pressing into the heat of Itachi’s leg. Kakashi shook his head.  
‘Ame aren’t doing themselves any favours,’ he muttered, ‘cutting themselves off like this – I mean look at this situation: it’s tantamount to aiding a wanted criminal. They’re only just getting back on their feet after the last war; it won’t do any good to piss off the larger nations.’   
‘Maybe that’s why they’ve closed the boarders,’ Itachi sighed, ‘they’re hoping to avoid being dragged into the next one, besides why shouldn’t they shield Orochimaru? He’s a skilled shinobi, he could help them.’   
‘No nation can take in an S-rank criminal – that’s the law,’ Kakashi told him, unusally firm, ‘as soon as they go in the Bingo book they’re exile, no village will associate with them for fear of reprisals.’ Itachi nodded understanding – few ninja parted with their village on amicable terms.   
‘Did Jiraiya have any more information on this organisation?’ Itachi asked, belatedly remembering.  
‘Not much,’ Kakashi sighed stretching out his legs, wriggling his toes in his sandals, ‘but he assures me Orochimaru doesn’t play well with others, so they must be offering something he wants badly.’ Itachi nodded again, the thought of what someone like Orochimaru could want made him shiver. ‘Jiraiya says Iwagakure are in mess,’ Kakashi muttered on a tangent, ‘bounty was claimed on the Four-tails’ jinchuriki, so now they’re without any major deterrent just like that.’ Kakashi snapped his fingers. Itachi raised his eyebrows; the information that the jinchuriki had left the village had only filtered through a couple of months ago.  
‘He lasted what five months?’ he frowned at Kakashi.  
‘Yeah about that… hardly worth it,’ he shrugged, ‘perhaps it will encourage the other jinchuriki to stay at home.’   
‘Who claimed the bounty?’   
‘The black market doesn’t do receipts,’ Kakashi chuckled, ‘but I get the impression it was a known bounty hunter – nothing more sinister. Probably too stupid to realise he’d have got twice as much for bringing in the guy alive.’   
‘Will the Hokage attack Iwa?’ Itachi asked softly, though his heart thumping in his chest. He would follow his orders but he wasn’t sure he could bear open warfare. Kakashi shook his head.  
‘There’s no point,’ he muttered then grinned, ‘if anyone were to attack… my money’s on Kiri – now there’s village with some inadequacy issues.’ Itachi laughed a little nervously.   
Kakashi yawned, getting to his feet. ‘Get a couple of hours sleep,’ he offered, ‘I’ll do a perimeter check and we can sort out teams for travelling back tomorrow.’ Itachi nodded gratefully, slipping from beneath Shisui to retrieve their bedrolls. Shisui mumbled softly as Itachi lay down beside him and fell into an exhausted sleep.


	5. Five Months to The Massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi frowned up at her and Itachi saw her glaze flick to the chunins then to Itachi. He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, the fan on his back now feeling like a bull’s-eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little sweetener at the end... because writing this chapter depressed me

‘I’m going to say something.’  
‘Shisui please,’ Itachi hissed, clutching his sleeve. They were in waiting room of Konoha Hospital, perched on a pair of chilly plastic chairs. Sasuke was on his lap, silent but for the occasional whimper, curled in a tight ball.   
Having returned home late to find his brother alone, crouched in the hall tear-stained with his wrist at an odd angle, Itachi had bundled him into his jacket and sandals taking his straight to A&E. He’d nearly walked into Shisui leaving this house, who had then trailed him to the hospital.   
‘We’ve been here over two hours,’ Shisui hissed back at him, ‘that woman who just went in, arrived ages after us.’   
‘We’ll be next,’ he sighed softly, though he doubted it.  
‘There’s hardly anyone here – this is unacceptable,’ he grunted, standing stiffly and stalking over to the front desk. Itachi looked forwards straight-backed, cupping Sasuke’s head. The reception desk was a little behind him, so that he could clearly hear everything Shisui said but not see him.   
‘Listen, I don’t want to make a scene,’ he heard Shisui mutter, ‘but we’ve been waiting more than two hours. It shouldn’t matter who our family is, he’s a kid and he’s in a lot of pain – why don’t you show some fucking humanity, huh?’ A muted exclamation. Shisui flopped down next to him a few moments later. Itachi didn’t look at him; he could tell if he felt more humiliated or furious. A minute passed in silence.   
‘Uchiha Sasuke!’ called a harried looking medic nin and Itachi stood glancing at Shisui who gave him sombre nod. 

‘Fractured wrist, huh?’ Shisui grinned as the three of them trotted down the steps outside Konoha hospital, ‘I guess I better buy you two dinner.’ Sasuke smiled wanly, lifting his arms to Shisui to be carried. Shisui scooped him onto his back and Itachi glanced sadly at the daggling cast now encasing his forearm. Shisui had wasted no time scrawling his own name on it, followed by the moniker ‘the greatest ninja ever’ and picture of an indistinct sinuous animal helpfully labelled ‘Itachi-chan’.   
‘What do you want to eat, Sasuke?’ Shisui smiled, winking at Itachi.   
‘Don’t mind,’ Sasuke mumbled into his hair; he was a little hazy from the pain medication.   
‘Maybe we should go just home,’ Itachi muttered, peering at his little brother who seemed to have fallen asleep.   
‘Fine by me, I want a word with your dad,’ Shisui agreed blandly. Itachi bit his lip; ‘what are you going to say?’   
‘I’m going to tell him they made a seven-year-old wait two hours with a broken wrist,’ Shisui snapped, ‘and then I’m going to tell that to the Hokage,’ Itachi shook his head, ‘what if it he’d been cut, Itachi? Would they have let him just bleed out in the reception?’   
‘Don’t exaggerate,’ Itachi sighed, ‘you’re over thinking it, the Hokage wouldn’t allow that to happen.’ Shisui gave a sharp laugh: ‘you genuinely believe that receptionist didn’t clock your name was Uchiha and send you right to the bottom of the list?’   
‘I don’t believe the Hokage would allow-’ Itachi started.   
‘He’s not omnipotent,’ Shisui retorted, then with a sigh; ‘this can’t go on, Itachi.’ He sounded serious now, so serious Itachi stopped to look at him. They were in a quiet part of the village, on the road that led past the cemetery the Will of Fire gleaming in the gathering dusk. Sasuke was limp with sleep on Shisui back and Itachi stared at them.  
‘What are you saying?’ he asked softly, although he already knew. There had been a lot of talk these past few months; talk of the old days, whatever those were, talk of Uchiha subjugation and talk of Uchiha Madara.   
He noticed it first after clan meetings, amougst the young men mostly but he’d been hearing more and more. Whispers between the mothers in the Academy playground; mumbles at the bars he sometimes picked Shisui up from; muted conversations between his parents as he put Sasuke to bed; gossip in the Uchiha-owned shops, their awnings cheerfully displaying the red and white fan. He’d woken one morning to find an entire street with the awning slashed. It had been put down to vandals but it left a bad taste in Itachi’s mouth.   
‘What do you think?’ Shisui growled and Itachi clenched his jaw eyes burning, ‘they – our clan, our family, Itachi – are saying that perhaps the power in Konoha needs a little redistributing. Not an unfair point, even if I don’t agree with the methods they have in mind.’ Itachi stiffened, glancing around the briefly and saw Shisui do the same, eyes gleaming red. They were quite alone.  
‘They can’t believe a…’ he lowered his voice to a mutter, ‘coup would be successful?’   
‘We not?’ he shrugged, ‘there’s plenty of trained ninja and we have the sharingan.’   
‘The sharingan isn’t everything,’ Itachi murmured, ‘you’ve seen the Third fight, and Jiraiya… and no doubt Tsunade would return if the village was in real trouble.’  
‘She didn’t when Nine-tails paid a call,’ Shisui pointed out. Itachi shook his head.  
‘Who would have expected the Fourth to go down? Besides,’ he bit his lip. His head was pounding in time with his heart, it was the closest to panic he’d been so far. ‘As soon as we show any weakness the other villages won’t hesitate to attack – it will be another war.’ Shisui sucked his lip, black eyes examining Itachi. Itachi looked back startled to realise that, when the time came to choose, he and Shisui may no longer be on the same side. Shisui bowed his head with a sigh, Sasuke snuffling softly.   
‘I was coming to tell you,’ he spoke flatly, ‘I’ve got mission.’   
‘Where?’ Itachi asked softly, unnerved by the change in conversation.  
‘Here – it’s ANBU,’ he explain eyes boring into Itachi’s.   
‘I thought you’d quit,’ he murmured, ears ringing as his blood pressure rose. What was Shisui trying to tell him? Shisui shrugged; ‘no such thing as ex-ANBU when the Hokage wants something.’ Itachi felt a tingle of apprehension.  
‘What did he want?’ he murmured, eyes now flicking between Shisui’s.  
‘Nothing,’ Shisui grunted, looking away sharply. Itachi frowned him, but Shisui was looking away towards the cemetery, guessing ‘nothing’ translated roughly to the clan or the coup, if those things could be separated.   
‘I tell you everything,’ he muttered facing him dusk sunlight warm on his back. And he did. Even the things he swore to both his father and his Hokage he would never even think again.   
Shisui sighed, rolling black eyes upwards; ‘I don’t want to argue, Itachi. Haven’t you had enough of arguments lately?’ Itachi bit his lip; knowing he was not the only one currently sagging under the weight of a clan, a village and half-a-century of enmity.   
‘I could help you,’ he said quietly, looking down at his hands. Shisui looked up at him face unreadable.  
‘You do,’ Shisui murmured carefully, to not jostle Sasuke, putting an arm around him and kissing his temple. As Shisui released him, Itachi could feel horror tightening his chest until he had to speak.   
‘What are we going to do?’ he hissed. It had come out of his mouth sharper and more panicked than he’d intended.   
‘We buy time,’ Shisui murmured after a moment, ‘as long as no-one had landed the first blow, the situation can be salvaged, everyone can come out of this alive.’ Itachi nodded, although he couldn’t believe it. Konoha had been lost for the Uchiha the day Madara stalked out of the village without a backwards glance. 

Itachi rubbed the space between his eyebrows, trying to message away the headache beating behind his eyes. He was sat at in a row of small tables, with a handful of other jonins, waiting for the next candidate to appear nervously before him to sit their genjutsu exam. Perhaps his standards were too high but he wasn’t sure he could endure another clumsy alternate reality today.   
The Jonin exams had now been going for a week and a half. He’d agreed to be an examiner as he felt as ANBU captain he should set an example, a decision he was now quite seriously regretting. Sasuke was a constant mantra in the back of his mind. There were already rumours about Sasuke’s conspicuous injury, ranging from attacks by enemy villages to domestic abuse.   
When he’d returned home carrying his woozy baby brother, his father had shouted at him for the first time since he’d been a very young child. He understood. He’d been late. Sasuke had been his responsibility, he’d made a mistake and mistakes were costly. He didn’t mention that if his father hadn’t been off plotting his revolution he might have been there himself.   
Someone flopped down opposite him and Itachi looked up without enthusiasm.   
‘Kakashi?’ he said surprised. The other inclined his head. He looked unusually summery, short sleeved t-shirt showing off the ANBU tattoo on his bicep, though he still wore his mask.   
‘Your shift’s up,’ he grinned as Itachi sagged with relief. He stood gathering his papers quickly, not looking up; he didn’t really want to speak to Kakashi. He knew he and Shisui had had an argument a few days before and had no desire to get involved in their domestic affairs.   
‘I wanted to talk to you,’ Kakashi murmured, hand resting on a stack of papers Itachi was attempting to file.   
‘You’ll have to sort it out with Shisui yourself,’ he told him in an undertone.  
‘He told you?’ Kakashi grunted and Itachi was surprised by how angry he looked.  
‘He didn’t have to,’ Itachi told him tartly and he hadn’t – the outline of a Chidori on the plaster outside Shisui’s apartment he been indication enough. ‘I hope you got fined.’  
‘And how,’ Kakashi sighed, ‘even the landlord’s asking for compensation, not that I’m complaining,’ he added when Itachi gave him an unsympathetic look, ‘I’m an idiot, I know – I just lost it. It wasn’t like I was trying to hit him.’   
‘Doesn’t look like it,’ Itachi snapped, ‘how many people have you killed with that technique?’ It was cruel, he knew it, and unfair – reminding Kakashi that in any other society he’d be a straight-up murderer. Kakashi looked as though he’d been slapped around the face.   
Itachi looked down at the papers in his hands, remembering that childhood accidents and ignorant villagers were not Kakashi’s fault.  
‘Sorry,’ he said roughly after a moment, ‘it’s been a difficult week.’ Kakashi shrugged, expression softening; ‘I heard about Sasuke.’ Itachi nodded jerkily.   
‘C’mon,’ Kakashi said suddenly unnervingly cheerful, ‘let’s get something to eat – you look wiped out.’ Before he could protest, Kakashi had scooped up Itachi’s bag and flak jacket from the back of the chair and strolled out so he had no choice but to follow him.   
Kakashi led him to a scruffy little tearoom on Konoha’s outer limit and ordered them both a pot of tea and sticky dessert without looking at the menu – he’s was obviously a regular. Itachi sat next to him on the bench looking out at the street, thick with civilians trotting home after a day’s work.  
‘Looks like paradise, huh?’ Kakashi chuckled, leaning back as their tea was served.   
‘What do you mean?’ Itachi murmured, running a fingertip through the syrup on the plate and licking it.   
‘Y’know,’ Kakashi grinned wryly, ‘nine to five, a normal job – a normal life.’   
‘Konoha’s a hidden village,’ Itachi shrugged, ‘your life is normal.’   
‘Not the same as a good life,’ Kakashi muttered, watching a pair of young women walk past chatting, one leading toddler and the other swinging a shopping bag from each hand. Itachi watched them too.  
‘You could get a woman if you wanted one,’ he murmured, though he wasn’t convinced he should be giving out relationship advice.   
‘Ah,’ Kakashi agreed sipping his tea, ‘and fuck off on some mission and leave her with a kid and memorial stone… oh and a pension from the village.’ Itachi didn’t say anything. They ate in silence for several minutes, while Itachi digested what he had learned about Kakashi.   
‘So you want to talk about what happened at the hospital?’ Kakashi asked quietly, wiping his mouth. Itachi stiffened, aware that anything he said to Kakashi went directly to the Hokage.  
‘Nothing happened,’ he answered flatly, ‘I took Sasuke, I gave our name, we sat and waited.’   
‘No one said anything?’ Kakashi eyed him.   
‘No one ever says anything,’ Itachi admitted softly, ‘it’s the looks.’   
‘That’s what Shisui said,’ Kakashi muttered, rubbing his jaw absently.   
‘Is that what you fought about?’ he asked carefully and Kakashi snorted but before he could answer a call from behind them interrupted. Kakashi glanced around; a rowdy group of chunins freshly off duty had just entered. Their waitress had reappeared looking anxious.   
‘Are we about done here?’ she asked pointedly, with a falsely bright smile. Kakashi frowned up at her and Itachi saw her glaze flick to the chunins then to Itachi. He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, the fan on his back now feeling like a bull’s-eye. Kakashi had stiffened.  
‘Are you asking us to leave?’ he murmured silkily, eye narrowed.   
‘The boss doesn’t want ninja fights in her establishment,’ the girl told them insistently. Itachi made to stand but Kakashi held his wrist.   
‘Please can we just…’ he sighed, feeling his face flush.   
‘This is ridiculous,’ Kakashi barked as he stood, silence spreading out from them like a shockwave.   
‘Sir, if you can please-’ the waitress gabbled, glancing nervously at the group of chunins.  
‘We’re going, we’re going,’ he growled, gripping Itachi’s shoulder, ‘and you can tell your boss we’ll be having words.’ They threaded their way out through benches. Itachi kept his head down, feeling every eye on them.   
‘What’s that Uchiha scum doing on this side of the village?’ someone asked loudly as they ducked under the awning. Itachi increased his strides, ignoring the fact that Kakashi had turned back, with that tell-tale chirping in his ears. As he traversed the village towards home he saw several members of the police force running in the opposite direction. 

The knock came at nine-thirty, Shisui’s familiar ratter-tat-tat. He was helping his mother tidy the playroom, digging down the back of the sofa for blunted shuriken.   
‘Itachi!’ called his father.  
‘Tell Shisui to come up, I’ll only be a sec,’ he yelled back.   
‘Itachi!’ he father called again and Itachi disengaged with a sigh. His mother smiled at him, kissing him on the top of the head as he passed her to leave. He stumped down the stairs tightening his ponytail. He raised his eyebrows when he spotted Shisui was still in his uniform, beside him a pair of cloaked and silent ANBU – not ANBU Itachi knew.   
‘What’s-’ he started.  
‘Uchiha Itachi?’ interrupted one of the ANBU, gruff-sounding and male.   
‘That’s me,’ he murmured, seeing Shisui smirk out of the corner of his eye. His father straightened his spine.   
‘Can you confirm your location between the hours of 1600 and 1800 this afternoon?’  
‘Who is interested in that information?’ his father cut in before he could answer, ‘why are my son’s movements being monitored?’ Itachi would feel gratified by his father springing to his defence but he knew better.   
‘There was an incident this afternoon,’ the other ANBU said evenly, in an unexpectedly pleasant female voice. ‘And we believe Itachi may be a witness.’   
‘What happened?’ Itachi asked stiffly. Shisui raised an eyebrow folding his arms; ‘c’mon Itachi, all the Hokage wants to know why Kakashi kicked off, since he can’t blame me this time.’ The ANBU seemed to still and Fugaku glanced at him but Shisui ignored him eyes focused on Itachi.   
‘Is he in trouble?’ Itachi muttered guiltily, looking at between the masked figures and Shisui’s police uniform.  
‘Second time he’s punched a hole in a wall in week?’ Shisui snorted unsympathetically, ‘it’s a disciplinary at least.’  
‘He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get suspended – pending psych evaluation,’ muttered the first ANBU. Itachi looked at his bare feet.  
‘I didn’t actually see what happened,’ he muttered, ‘we were just leaving, there were a couple of ninja, and one of them shouted something.’   
‘Shouted what?’ Shisui asked eyes sharp. Itachi looked back at him, telling him without words exactly what. Shisui swore softly, ‘because you were with him?’ the air seemed to thicken around them as Fugaku’s posture became stiff. ‘You should have stayed, Itachi, shown them what an Uchiha can do,’ Shisui muttered. At his back Fugaku’s hand twitched, an unconscious stifling movement.   
‘You should have reported it – the Hokage is determined to crack down on low-level incidents.’ the female ANBU said firmly and Shisui smirked at her.   
‘We’ll need at statement,’ the male ANBU told Itachi. Itachi nodded taking a step forward but Shisui waved him off; ‘you can come to Headquarters with me in the morning.’   
‘I’ll make sure he that does,’ Fugaku assured them, resting a large hand on Itachi’s shoulder. As the ANBU bowed and left, Shisui rubbed the back of his neck stifling a yawn. Itachi looked at him, the first time he’d seen him in days, he looked exhausted, pale and oddly colourless.   
‘You bring the Hokage’s puppets into my house?’ Fugaku rounded on Shisui as soon as he’d shut the inner door with a snap.  
‘I thought it would look more suspicious to refuse,’ Shisui explained blandly. Itachi looked between him and his father. Fugaku was silent apparently considering.   
‘That may be,’ he conceded, ‘now is the most vital time-’ but then broke off sharply because Sasuke had appeared sleep-ruffled and dragging a blanket. Without waiting for his father’s dismissal Itachi scooped him up carrying him back to bed. 

‘Someone at school said that Uchiha who don’t get the sharingan have to leave the village,’ Sasuke mumbled as Itachi tucked sheets around him. It was dark in Sasuke’s bedroom; he’d never feared the dark but could not well sleep except in pitch blackness, Itachi it was funny they would have that in common. Itachi stroked his little brother’s hair back – he had the impression the revelation had been waiting a while.  
‘That’s not true, Sasuke,’ he murmured mildly, ‘why are you so worried about the sharingan recently?’   
‘I’m not,’ he grumbled, rolling away from him. Itachi lay beside him on top of the covers, chin rested on the crown of his head, ‘you can talk to me, y’know.’  
‘You don’t talk to me,’ Sasuke mumbled, ‘you don’t tell me things.’ Itachi blinked surprised.  
‘What do you want to know?’ he asked curiously.   
‘Why do you keep arguing with dad?’ Sasuke asked instantly.   
‘We don’t always agree, Sasuke, but we are still family,’ Itachi sighed softly, ‘I’m sorry if our arguing upset you.’   
‘What don’t you agree about?’ Sasuke whispered, rolling so he could look at him. Itachi kissed his forehead absently.   
‘Seems like everything at the moment,’ he muttered frustrated. The light outside Sasuke’s bedroom clicked on.   
‘Itachi you need to go to bed,’ Fugaku spoke without entering, ‘I have several tasks for you in morning and you will need to be well rested.’ Itachi stood with a sigh, tucking the sheets around Sasuke once more before slipping back to his own room.   
His bed was already occupied. Itachi gave Shisui his best death glare, wondering if it was less effective in the dark. He closed the window with a muffled thump.   
‘For the record,’ he hissed pulling off his crumpled house clothes and on an old t-shirt he slept in, ‘the next time you have a fight with your boyfriend I will not be playing the unpaid relationship councillor.’ Shisui snickered shuffling closer to the wall so there was room for Itachi.   
‘So it was about me?’ he murmured when Itachi stretched out beside him.   
‘Yes, well sort of,’ he whispered, ‘he wanted to know about the hospital.’   
‘What did you tell him?’   
‘The same thing as you he said,’ Itachi muttered, listening carefully for the sound of footsteps. Shisui was silent too. They were getting a little old for this, Itachi reflected. It was fine, sweet even, as children to curl up in the same bed but Shisui was eighteen now and the heat coming off him was making all the blood flow out of Itachi’s brain. A soft shocked sound.  
‘Itachi!’ Shisui hissed his voice amused, ‘I can feel that!’ Itachi tried to wriggle away from him but Shisui was shaking with suppressed giggles and had wrapped an arm tightly around him. ‘My, my you haven’t been playing with it have you? You’ll go blind,’ Shisui chuckled and Itachi had to bite his tongue to keep the laughter in.   
‘Let me go you pervert,’ he growled, trying and failing to escape from the other’s grip.   
‘Me a pervert!’ he whispered back, ‘I think we both know who the pervert is, Itachi.’ And Shisui squeezed his erection through the fabric of his underwear. Itachi nearly bit through his lip, toes curling and knees jerking up. Shisui hummed, clearly amused.   
‘Give me a kiss then and I’ll see if there’s something I can do,’ he murmured. Itachi felt himself flush, Shisui hadn’t let go of him and the ache between his thighs was now almost unbearable. He kissed him, soft and a little sloppy like they used to when the both very small. Shisui kissed back, coaxing until Itachi opened his mouth then pushed his tongue inside.   
One of his hot hands slipped into Itachi’s underwear. Itachi felt himself moaned into the other’s mouth, grateful that the sound was completely muffled. Shisui stroked him firmly, hand large and excitingly unfamiliar. Itachi came quickly, panting.  
Shisui kissed the side of his mouth, pushing Itachi’s t-shirt up and slipping beneath the sheet to kiss his chest and stomach, the skin of his inner thighs and his softening cock. Itachi shivered over-sensitive as Shisui lay back beside him.   
‘You’re sweet,’ he murmured, pressing his nose to Itachi’s hair. Itachi smiled but didn’t speak feeling himself sink into sleep.


	6. Three months to the massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi was smoothing his hair back, thumb tracing over the thin skin at his temple. Itachi found himself feeling oddly peaceful.  
> ‘Have you done it before?’ Kakashi asked quietly into the dark. Itachi shook his head again. Kakashi heaved a sigh but didn’t remove his hand.

Itachi slammed the door closed behind him slapping on a sealing jutsu to stop his father following him out. As he stalked uphill Itachi could feel his throat burning where he’s shouted it raw. He closed his eyes, clenching trembling hands into fists. His vision slipped in and out of focus as his sharingan struggled to activate. He ignored it. His head was splitting already and he’d been holding himself back so hard he had a stitch in his hip. He’d nearly punched one of the clan elders; there wasn’t a time he could remember losing control that badly. He swallowed the urge to shout stomping past the cemetery. His father would not listen. He was so blinded but clan pride, so infuriatingly certain of how Itachi was feeling.  
When Itachi reached the shadow of the Hokage monument he paused, trying to even out his breathing. He had to think. He had to make a plan. It was nearly midnight, he was alone on the streets of Konoha and he had no intention of going home. Normally he would have gone to Shisui but he was away on a mission, besides he’d probably agree with his father. Itachi bit his lip, eyes burning.  
Behind him something prickled his awareness, like a sound just under his hearing. He waited although he wasn’t sure what for. A shadow moved. He slipped a kunai from his sleeve. A slouched figure emerged from the darkness. Itachi considered whether it was worth increasing the headache to activate his sharingan.  
‘Itachi?’ the figure called and with a weird tingling rush Itachi recognised Kakashi. He hadn’t seen him since Kakashi had nearly killed someone for calling him Uchiha scum. Shisui had seen him, he knew. They’d argued so badly the next day Fugaku had been called to split up the fight.  
After though Shisui seemed to have relented and they’d been spotted sedately at tea a few days later. With Shisui away on a mission Itachi had hoped the matter would fall out of general interest but, after Shisui’s screamed accusations, all anyone wanted to talk about was exactly what perverted things Kakashi Hatake liked in bed. Itachi took a step back looking away quickly; he face was still flushed with anger. Kakashi smiled at him lazily.  
‘Out late aren’t you?’ he chuckled, falling into step beside him. He shrugged.  
‘I’m not going home,’ he found himself saying defiantly as though Kakashi had suggested it.  
‘Where are you going?’ Kakashi asked still trotting beside him hands in pockets.  
‘To friends,’ Itachi told him stiffly, turning down an alley at random.  
‘You don’t have any friends,’ Kakashi snorted, Itachi stopped staring at him stunned by the baldness of this statement. ‘Well,’ he conceded, ‘you have Shisui but he’s on a mission.’ Itachi stared at him mutely. ‘You better come back with me; you can’t sleep in the street.’ Kakashi turned on his heel. Itachi considered his options and, deciding he didn’t want to sleep under his desk at ANBU HQ, followed.  
Kakashi lived on the outskirts of Konoha, the poorer districts, on the other side of the village from the Uchiha compound. The apartment itself was in one of the buildings thrown up by the Second Hokage to house the rapidly increasing population. It was third floor, along a dank corridor. ‘Hatake’ spelled out lovingly in an obviously female hand, Itachi wondered which one of his girlfriends had done it.  
It surprised Itachi; a jonin and former ANBU like Kakashi should have enough money to live in a better place. Maybe he had a gambling problem, Itachi thought as Kakashi fitted his key into the lock. He had to open the warped door with a little shunt from his shoulder. Inside the apartment was sparse and Itachi expected that between missions he spent little time there. Itachi pulled his shoes off watching as Kakashi padded into the kitchenette on bare feet and set some water to boil. Itachi knelt by a small plain table waiting.  
‘You looked pretty lethal when I first saw you,’ Kakashi chuckled, bringing a large chipped teapot and two cups to the table, ‘I wouldn’t want to be the person who made you mad.’ Itachi didn’t answer. Kakashi looked at him silently for a moment but then shrugged beginning to pour out the tea.  
‘Thank you,’ Itachi murmured, wrapping his hands around the mug for warmth.  
‘Is there a reason you don’t want to go home?’ Kakashi tried again. Itachi frowned at him; his interrogation technique could do with some work.  
‘There isn’t a reason,’ he told him flatly. Kakashi sighed still looking like there were things he wanted to say: ‘I suppose it doesn’t matter. Shisui should be back tomorrow.’  
‘Are you in love with Shisui?’ Itachi asked suddenly, hoping to distract Kakashi from questioning him.  
‘Am I in love with…?’ Kakashi repeated, looking so astonished Itachi almost laughed. He didn’t speak though allowing the room to fill with echoing silence, begging to be broken. After a moment Kakashi said flatly: ‘I don’t know what that feels like so I couldn’t tell you.’ The response didn’t surprise Itachi all that much; working as ninja tended to leave you emotionally blunted or it drove you mad.  
‘Are you happy, Itachi?’ Kakashi asked equally as sudden and Itachi flicked his eyes up at him, wondering what had shown on his face.  
‘What?’ he grunted.  
‘Are you happy?’  
‘Yes,’ Itachi answered shortly. Of course he was happy. He had Sasuke and his mother, and Shisui most of the time. He had a clan who respected him and a Hokage who he respected, what more could he want? He’d had to kill a man today but he had been an enemy. He was slow and Itachi was quick. Nothing else mattered and Itachi was happy.  
‘Things are difficult at the moment,’ Kakashi said quietly, looking at the fine pattern of scars over his knuckles.  
‘Shisui?’ Itachi asked him; although he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about Shisui at the moment. Kakashi laughed: ‘he’s got a big mouth.’ Itachi laughed too.  
‘Is work tough?’ he asked carefully; he didn’t want to sound like he was fishing for information. Kakashi glanced at him sideways but then shrugged.  
‘Same as it is for everyone I guess,’ he explained, ‘I get bored, I get stressed out then I get bored again.’ Itachi laughed again. ‘The Hokage wants me around a lot,’ Kakashi told him glancing up, ‘but there are things he’s not telling me.’ Itachi sipped his tea thoughtfully.  
‘That’s not surprising,’ Itachi muttered, ‘is there anyone you trust completely?’  
‘I thought you might know something I don’t,’ Kakashi said as though he hadn’t heard him. Itachi raised an eyebrow at him. Kakashi shrugged. ‘What happened tonight?’  
‘Nothing,’ Itachi muttered, closing down, but then added with a shrug, ‘I argued with my father.’  
‘Sasuke?’ Kakashi asked softly. Itachi forced his hands not to clench on the teacup, realising the other had been watching more closely than he’d thought.  
‘No,’ he smiled, ‘just politicking. I’m not interested and… he thinks I should be.’  
‘Oh he can see you being the Fifth?’ Kakashi chuckled. Itachi snorted.  
‘I don’t think the village is enough,’ he sighed, ‘the world isn’t enough.’  
‘It’s a dad’s job to put pressure on you,’ Kakashi smiled, eyes low, ‘it’s how you become strong.’  
‘So it goes,’ Itachi agreed, thinking of Sasuke’s soft round face, ‘too much pressure and you snap.’  
‘You haven’t snapped yet, Itachi.’  
‘Neither have you,’ Itachi eyes on the other’s.  
‘Well, I know what it looks like,’ Kakashi muttered, voice brittle suddenly, ‘you either blow up or cave in… and I’m not the mass murder type.’  
The word seemed to linger on the air between them. Suicide. There it was. The end of all arguments, of all fighting, of all killing. A sharp drop into oblivion. Itachi could think of a hundred thousand ways to do it; easy ways, complicated ways and ways so quick he’d be dead before he could change his mind. He raised black eyes to Kakashi’s. It was not an option. He’d worked his whole desperate life to ensure he could not be killed; he could hardly fall to his own hand.  
Although he couldn’t pretend he hadn’t considered it; even prodigies have moments of weakness. He’d backed himself into a corner with his own abilities but he couldn’t leave Sasuke to shoulder the expectations of the Uchiha alone. It hardened any fractures; he could not allow Sasuke to become like him.  
‘You’re being morbid,’ Itachi muttered, scratching at a scuff on the table.  
‘Comes from a lifetime of blood and violence,’ Kakashi snorted. Itachi flinched like he’d been hit but Kakashi didn’t seem to notice, pushing himself to his feet and turning to dig out spare bedding. The apartment was basically one room, divided between a kitchen and sitting or sleeping area with separate bathroom – the size of a large cupboard – at the back.  
‘Don’t mind sharing do you?’ Kakashi asked, converting the sofa with a yank and flacking out two bedrolls. Itachi shook his head moving to help Kakashi arrange the bedding. 

It was late, or early he should say, perhaps two or three o’clock – that cold quiet part of the night. Itachi had woken suddenly, as was his habit, and was disorientated for a moment. The bed beside him was empty and the room was completely dark. He could hear bare feet pad back towards him in the gloom then the mattress sank a little. He could just make out Kakashi sitting hunched on the other side. He slept in his underwear and an old t-shirt. Itachi could just make out KONOHA stamped on across his back and remembered it was from last year’s sport’s festival. He could hear moist sounds of Kakashi drinking and guessed he’d woken thirsty. The soft chink of a glass and Kakashi flopped onto his back. He glanced at Itachi.  
‘Did I wake you?’ he rumbled softly. Itachi shook his head looking at the glitter of his eyes. Absently Kakashi raised a hand resting it on the crown of Itachi’s head. It felt large and warm. Kakashi was smoothing his hair back, thumb tracing over the thin skin at his temple. Itachi found himself feeling oddly peaceful.  
‘Have you done it before?’ Kakashi asked quietly into the dark. Itachi shook his head again. Kakashi heaved a sigh but didn’t remove his hand.  
Itachi reached for him beneath the covers, he didn’t want him to stop. His hand hit the other’s hip bone and he flinched back, unsure what he had intended to do. Kakashi huffed a laugh rolling in towards him, catching his wrist. Itachi yanked back nervous and Kakashi let him go making a soothing noise. Itachi took a breath steadying himself; he’d seen battle more times than he could count, he was not afraid of this. He extended his hand again.  
Kakashi didn’t hold him this time but allowed him to run his fingertips under his t-shirt and over his bare stomach. He could feel the shape of every muscle sliding beneath the surface. Kakashi’s hand ran over his hip, the other still in his hair. Itachi stiffened. Kakashi let go of his hip, hand resting on the mattress between them.  
Itachi liked him stroking his hair, feeling every caress right down to the tips of toes. Stealing himself he shuffled closer until he could feel the heat rising from the other’s skin and feel warm damp breath on his lips. Kakashi lowered his mouth a little as Itachi lifted his chin. Their lips touched briefly and Itachi could feel a warm weight on his hip again. A thumb ran under the fabric of his underwear. Itachi shivered but didn’t pull back.  
He could feel something hot pressing insistently against his thigh. Kakashi pulled his underwear down just enough to relieve the pressure on his sensitive skin. A large warm hand encased him and Itachi gasped, fingers digging into Kakashi’s wrist. Kakashi murmured into his dark hair, kissing his forehead, cupping his skull. Itachi touched his thigh, feeling the firm muscle, sliding his fingertips shyly beneath the fabric up the length of his leg. Kakashi exhaled hard sloppily kissing Itachi’s mouth then pulled back a little.  
Kakashi wriggled his underwear to his knees. Itachi could feel feverish bare skin and Kakashi’s hand fitting around his guiding it between his legs. It was hot against his palm as Kakashi’s hand was hot around him. Kakashi kissed the side of his mouth again, thumb circling of the tip. Itachi tensed, oversensitive, then copied the motion. Kakashi grunted and Itachi smiled, allowing himself to fall into rhythm with the other’s caress. It was quiet; the loudest sound their ragged breathing and supple sound of skin on skin.  
Itachi gasped, feeling his climax peak a split second before something loosened inside him, spilling warm and sticky between them. Kakashi squeezed the back of neck, sliding his hand under Itachi’s and beginning to rub himself with quick firm strokes. Itachi watched him vaguely still glowing with aftershocks. Kakashi kissed him hard, hips flexing up into his stomach as Itachi felt hot slickness wet his belly.  
Kakashi rolled onto his back panting, arms stretched up above his head. Itachi shifted onto his back as well looking up at the ceiling. They lay in cool silence. Kakashi rested his knuckles against his cheek, Itachi turned to him though they could barely see each other in the dark.  
‘Okay?’ he whispered. Itachi nodded against his hand. He wasn’t sure whether it was okay or not but it was done either way. Kakashi rolled away from him and fell silent. Itachi lay listening to his breathing as it slowed and lengthened into sleep.  
He searched around for a word for what he was feeling but couldn’t find it. Maybe he’d expected to feel differently, like after the first time he’d killed someone. Less shockingly final, more like he’d finally scratched the itch Kakashi had been giving him for months.  
He looked up at the ceiling; he felt calmer, sharper. He would make a plan. He would speak to the Hokage. He would apologise to his father and mother. He would make the world a better place for Sasuke – whatever it took. Glancing once a Kakashi’s back, Itachi rolled away on to his side staring out into the darkness and waited for sleep. 

‘Looks like Kiri,’ Kakashi mumbled from the beneath the covers. Itachi glanced back over his shoulder. He’d woken at dawn as usual and had managed to complete his stretches without waking the other. Finally feeling it was light enough to be called morning, he’d cracked the curtains only to find an oppressive fog pressing back against the glass.  
‘I’ve never been,’ Itachi admitted peering out at the damp greyish washing that was strung between the buildings. ‘Why don’t you live closer to the centre?’ Itachi asked as politely as he could.  
‘My parents bought this place when I was born,’ Kakashi yawned, stretching out like a starfish across the bed, ‘it just seemed easier to keep it on.’ The greyness outside seemed to seep into the room for a moment as Itachi understood; for some short years Kakashi had been happy here.  
After another moment staring the ceiling, Kakashi groaned and rolled out of the bed, mumbling to Itachi that he was going to take a shower. Itachi nodded, continuing to watch as Konoha began to come to life in street below. A knock sounded on the front door.  
‘Get that, can you?’ Kakashi called over the sound of drumming water. Itachi trotted to the door, pulling it open.  
‘Itachi?’ frowned a dark-haired Uchiha, ‘what are you doing here?’ Itachi recognised a pair of Kakashi’s ANBU teammate with a flush. ‘Had a sleepover, huh?’ he grinned over Itachi’s shoulder, ‘you know Jiraiya always says it affects performance.’ Kakashi had emerged still steaming from the shower; mask already in place though his hair was damp. Itachi stepped back allowing them to enter, realising he was still wearing a discarded jumper of Kakashi’s he’d pulled on for warmth.  
‘Are you joking?’ Kakashi snorted, shrugging on his flak jacket. The man chuckled showing that he was. Itachi glanced sharply at Kakashi but his face was unreadable. ‘You’re like an hour early, by the way,’ he told his teammates now watching him impatiently.  
‘We said 0800,’ murmured the second; she was Aburame Itachi though, detecting a slight buzz in the air around her. Kakashi grumbled counting scrolls into his pouch. ‘Right, I just need to lock up,’ he said, snagging his katana and mask from one of the kitchen cupboards. ‘I’ll meet you at the Eastern gate in five.’ The ANBU nodded. ‘Okay?’ he added in an undertone to Itachi, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear, as the two ANBU trooped out ahead of them. Itachi nodded, pulling on his sandals quickly and smoothing his hair back into a ponytail.  
‘I’ll only be gone a few days,’ Kakashi told him as he pulled his apartment door closed with a tug and locked it, threading the key on a thin chain around his neck. ‘Then we can talk, go eat or something.’  
‘I think you’re doing this in the wrong order,’ Itachi muttered amused. Kakashi touched his cheek gently and Itachi forced himself not to shy away.  
‘I’m a lot older than you are, Itachi,’ he muttered quickly, ‘and I know you were upset last night. I understand if you feel like-’ he broke off because Itachi had tipped onto his toes and kissed him through the fabric covering his mouth.  
‘You think too much.’ Itachi smiled a little, repeating what Shisui always told him. Kakashi shook his head and Itachi wondered if Shisui said that to him too.  
‘Later,’ he grunted, giving Itachi’s shoulder a final squeeze and disappearing down the staircase.


End file.
